Girls receive Cash Transfers in remote Old Fangak

Nyatang Johnson is a pupil in P5 at Kuonylou Primary School in Old Fangak, a remote part of former Jonglei State. She received a GESS Cash Transfer for the first time last week, along with 51 of her fellow pupils. After receiving the payment of 2,300 SSP (approximately £25), she said: “I’m very happy for this money because when I go to market I can by anything like clothes and shoes.” She added that “it is very important for girls to go to school so they can read books and know English.”

GESS Cash Transfer recipient, Nyatang

GESS has so far reached 184,254 girls between Primary 5 and Senior 4 with Cash Transfers throughout South Sudan, enabling girls to purchase items that will help them remain in school, such as uniform, shoes, books and pens, and providing support to families and communities. Analysis of data from the programme has shown that Cash Transfers, along with school grants, make schools more likely to remain open, increase their enrolment numbers, and increase attendance rates, despite the prevalence of substantial ongoing levels of violence and conflict.

Despite an escalation in conflict across the country since July 2016, a record 1.33million pupils are now enrolled in schools in South Sudan, including 590,000 girls. The ratio of girls to boys is at its best ever, with girls making up 44.4% of total enrolment so far in 2017.

For more information on GESS Cash Transfers, funded by UK aid, go here.